So I have a 54reg 3.8S with 51,000 miles which I bought 2 years ago. I love the car which is my daily driver and has done 3 trackdays and the Northcoast 500 route in Scotland. I have a 911uk thread here http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=114307&highlight= . Soon after I bought it at 32k miles, light scoring was found in cylinders 5 and 6..... so I knew at some point a rebuild would be on the cards, but I was hoping this would be a few more years away. 2 years later on and 20000 miles driving since I bought it and the scoring has hardly changed and my oil consumption is low, so thought I had plenty of time before a rebuild would be needed (I have an LTT fitted, third radiator and change the oil every 5000 miles.)

My car being a 2005 model has the smaller IMS bearing fitted to it. We all know that these can fail and I was planning to change it when a new clutch was due, as the failure rate is still pretty low. Unfortunately my bearing decided not to wait for a clutch change and yesterday this happened

I had always accepted that I would need to get a rebuild in the future, (with Hartech liners etc) but as bore scoring is a slow death I thought I had plenty of time to plan/save etc. Catastrophic IMS bearing failure however is instant engine death and brought the rebuild much sooner that I would have liked and definitely not come at the best time....

If you still have a smaller IMS bearing fitted to your car and have done less than 80,000 miles I strongly suggest you get it replaced ASAP rather than just waiting till clutch change time._________________Seal Grey 997S
Racing Yellow Cayman 981GTS

AlfaianImola

Joined: 12 Mar 2014Posts: 825Location: S.wales

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 3:30 pm Post subject:

Sorry to hear that mate and mine has the smaller ims bearing too but it's not something that can be changed without the engine out and stripped.

If you could pull the bearing off then the timing chain drops.

Is Harlech doing the work?

krispeMonza

Joined: 05 Feb 2014Posts: 246Location: Northampton

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 3:45 pm Post subject:

Alfaian wrote:

Sorry to hear that mate and mine has the smaller ims bearing too but it's not something that can be changed without the engine out and stripped.

If you could pull the bearing off then the timing chain drops.

Is Harlech doing the work?

Smaller IMS bearing (2005 model year) can be replaced in situ. Only 2006 models onwards have the larger bearing which cannot be changed without stripping the engine. However the larger bearing hardly ever fails.

Hartech will fit the new liners to the block regardless, but still deciding whether to let my usual Indy do the rest of the build or get Hartech to do it all??_________________Seal Grey 997S
Racing Yellow Cayman 981GTS

AlfaianImola

Joined: 12 Mar 2014Posts: 825Location: S.wales

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 3:54 pm Post subject:

Interesting. I'll have a chat to my specialist when it's in for service in April.

The box is obviously off now at your local. So can he drop engine out and send it to hartech? Depends whats best for the wallet but I'd seek advice off baz or grant.

Interesting. I'll have a chat to my specialist when it's in for service in April.

The box is obviously off now at your local. So can he drop engine out and send it to hartech? Depends whats best for the wallet but I'd seek advice off baz or grant.

When I had my clutch on my 996 done, Sid at Porsche Torque charged 1 hour labour to swap out the old bearing. Think the bearing was around £50.

No brainer._________________5 out of the 8 Porsches I've owned have all suffered catastrophic engine failures.
I've now brought an "unreliable" car and its been perfect ?

Herd2243Newbie

Joined: 05 Oct 2016Posts: 24

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 4:41 pm Post subject:

I feel your pain op.

When Hartech did my engine rebuild, I had a lot of discussion with Grant on whether to upgrade my IMS to the larger bearing as I had a LN engineering upgraded bearing fitted six months before I had discovered the scoring on the cylinders. I decided I never wanted the pain of going through another re-build so I decided to go with the larger bearing. Hartech will warranty that bearing for 2 years or 24,000 miles. I also gave Hartech the full job, I did not want to take the chance of some other indy building the engine and Hartech only doing the machining work._________________Herd2243
997 C2

PalladiumIndianapolis

Joined: 01 Nov 2015Posts: 2496

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 5:31 pm Post subject:

its outrageous that a recall wasn't put out on this problem, I cant believe the brand has remained undamaged through it all.

DelanorNürburgring

Joined: 01 Oct 2016Posts: 435Location: The land of the big cat!

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 5:42 pm Post subject:

As there were several different IMS bearings fitted from `98 on are they all suspect in the collapsing dept right from day 1?

its outrageous that a recall wasn't put out on this problem, I cant believe the brand has remained undamaged through it all.

I agree, but as all the cars are so old now, they have managed to get away with it - nothing anyone can do._________________997.1 C2S, black, coupe, manual, Feb '05:
65k miles, tiny IMS bearing, Millers NT+ 10W50, driven above 3000 RPM.. original engine.

Poker2009Österreich

Joined: 09 Sep 2009Posts: 920Location: London

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 5:58 pm Post subject:

Poker2009 wrote:

Palladium wrote:

its outrageous that a recall wasn't put out on this problem, I cant believe the brand has remained undamaged through it all.

I agree, but as all the cars are so old now, they have managed to get away with it - nothing anyone can do.

Mine is a Feb 2005 (and with 51k miles!) and I have also got the smaller bearing, last checked at 40k miles when I did a clutch change, had the outer seal removed at that time, and just hoping for the best! Reading this has made me feel uneasy.._________________997.1 C2S, black, coupe, manual, Feb '05:
65k miles, tiny IMS bearing, Millers NT+ 10W50, driven above 3000 RPM.. original engine.

its outrageous that a recall wasn't put out on this problem, I cant believe the brand has remained undamaged through it all.

The failure figures would be too low to warrant a recall. That plus the fact that replacing ALL the bearings would bankrupt Porsche, it's far easier and cheaper for them to dish new engines out to those that failed under warranty._________________2000 Manual 996 C4 Arctic Silver Convertible

PalladiumIndianapolis

Joined: 01 Nov 2015Posts: 2496

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:59 pm Post subject:

I thought recalls can be for many years after production, maybe that's for safety features, but then again, your engine going bang on the autobahn is a safety issue, they got away with it big time, and created a nice little industry for others.

pjmNewbie

Joined: 12 Jan 2017Posts: 17

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 7:10 pm Post subject: Any warning signs?

Are there any warning signs of imminent IMS bearing failure that you can look out for?

No. If it's wearing you can check for fragments in your oil filter, but if it goes pop and fails you're goosed._________________2000 Manual 996 C4 Arctic Silver Convertible

Poker2009Österreich

Joined: 09 Sep 2009Posts: 920Location: London

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 7:13 pm Post subject:

Current concensus is have it checked for play when you have the clutch changed, remove the outer seal whilst in there, and hope for the best!_________________997.1 C2S, black, coupe, manual, Feb '05:
65k miles, tiny IMS bearing, Millers NT+ 10W50, driven above 3000 RPM.. original engine.

ScholesterSuzuka

Joined: 16 Jan 2012Posts: 1110Location: South West

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 7:13 pm Post subject:

I believe us Brits have been treated differently to our friends across the pond who took Porsche to court and won. Not sure why affected UK owners are left with a large bill and little or no recourse outside of owning expensive warranties?_________________997.1 Turbo Coupe, manual, black/black. 29k miles under its belt.

CarrerascottSilverstone

Joined: 28 Mar 2015Posts: 128Location: West Yorkshire

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 7:35 pm Post subject:

This has got me seriously thinking about this now.
Anyone know how many labour hours for replacing the smaller IMS bearing in-situ? And what do you replace with as i see there are lots of possible options unless I am getting mixed up? Seems like you can change for a Porsche larger bearing, a LN engineering ceramic bearing or even an oil fed one!?

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forumYou can attach files in this forumYou can download files in this forumYou cannot post calendar events in this forum